LONDON : Dutch national flag carrier KLM halted all flights to Kyiv and said it won’t operate in Ukrainian airspace—the first major carrier to announce a halt in service as tensions between Russia and the West mount over Ukraine.
The airline on Saturday cited a travel warning from the national government over risks to flying in the region. The airline’s next flight to the Ukrainian capital, scheduled for Saturday evening, won’t go ahead, the airline said, adding that it isn’t clear when KLM will resume flights. The move follows new guidance from the Dutch government warning citizens not to travel to the country.
KLM and others, including Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa AG, started rescheduling flights last month to avoid crews having to stay in the capital overnight due to safety concerns over the buildup of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border.
Lufthansa said Saturday that it is monitoring the situation in Ukraine, and is examining whether to suspend air traffic. A decision hasn’t been taken, a spokesman said. It is currently going ahead with several flights planned into Ukraine later Saturday.
The U.S. ordered most embassy staff to depart Ukraine after warning that a Russian military invasion could be imminent. Moscow also began withdrawing its diplomatic presence. Washington warned on Friday that Russia could launch a massive military operation against Ukraine in the coming days. Russia has denied it intends to invade its neighbor.
For the Netherlands, home to KLM, the region is particularly sensitive. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was downed over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing 298 crew and passengers, many of them Dutch citizens. The incident was investigated by the Dutch Safety Board, which found that the jet was hit by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile. Ukraine and Dutch prosecutors have accused Russia-backed militants operating in the area of launching the missile.
“KLM has not been flying over the eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea since 2014. There are now no more KLM flights through Ukrainian airspace until further notice," the airline said. “KLM always puts the safety of passengers and employees first in the conduct of its operation."
An extensive security analysis by a group including Dutch airlines, intelligence services, the Ministry of Defence and other national departments had found that the region was no longer safe to operate in, the airline said.
The move to cancel flights comes as governments including the U.S., the U.K. and the Netherlands have told citizens to evacuate Ukraine as quickly as possible. That poses a dilemma for foreigners trying to leave the country and for national carriers many depend on to get them out. KLM currently has no evacuation flights planned to repatriate citizens, according to a spokesperson.
The ceasing of operations in Ukrainian airspace also adds to the complexity of navigating flight routes through Eastern Europe. Airlines started avoiding Belarusian airspace last year after a Ryanair Holdings PLC aircraft carrying a Belarusian dissident was rerouted to Minsk following what a United Nations probe said was a fake bomb threat. The incident, which some capitals called state-sponsored hijacking, triggered sanctions against the Russian ally.
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Airlines have typically used airspace in both Belarus and Ukraine on routes to parts of Asia and the Middle East, and have had to adjust flight paths, increasing the length of flights and cost of operating.
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